>> gretchen: recapping our developing story. margaret thatcher died at the age of 87 in the u.k. spokesperson for the family says she had a stroke and died peacefully. more coverage throughout the day. >> steve: see you tomorrow. martha: we carry on continuing coverage of this breaking news. just a short time ago it was announced former british prime minister margaret thatcher, who was one of the most consequential leaders in modern history died after suffering a stroke early this morning. a family spokesman said the 87-year-old died peacefully. good morning everybody, a big day and a lot to talk about. i'm martha maccallum. >> i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer in "america's newsroom.". mrs. thatcher was great britain's only woman prime minister. martha: she was known for her tough and uncompromising style. thatcher led great britain out of socialism and revived the independent spirit of her country.

she was at the helm more than a decade whether trade unions or terrorist it is was agree with maggie or get out of the way. for that margaret thatcher goes down in history as the most influential british prime minister of the post-war era. that kind of self-confidence though wasn't always so apparent. >> i don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime. and i don't think it depends on so much whether it is a man prime minister or a woman prime minister as well as that person is the right person for the job. >> reporter: she apparently was the right person. britain's first female prime minister she led the conservative party for three election wins in a row, the country's longest serving prime minister in almost two centuries. thatcher got in on the floor of the reagan revolution. she joined her counterpart with a common goals and

ideas. she worked to transform britain and socially and economically. quickly, too quickly for some decimated trade unions and sold off state monopolies and ruthlessly tackled inflation despite the consequence it is cause the in the front. >> we're storming back the front tears of socialism and returning power to people. >> reporter: she laid the foundations for democracy where there were none. she was the one of the first to support leader mick gail gorbachev and took her share of credit as the cold war ended and the beryl lynn wall came down. she regarded her parn with the u.s. is the very important -- partnership. >> this was the greatest alliance the free world has ever known in the defense of freedom. >> reporter: she defeated argentina in the 1982 war over the falkland islands despite a attempt on her

life linked to the irish republican army. >> all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail. >> reporter: it was her increasing reluctance to allow europe to be integrated into european policies led to her fall. >> resigned from the cabinet. >> reporter: one of her top cabinet ministers resigned over the policies. she won another election but deeply divided her party in the process. when more members of her government quit because of her policies they told her she had to step down. >> it has been a tremendous privilege to serve this country as prime minister. >> reporter: she endorsed her successor john major. in 1997 john major and conservatives lost power. >> i'm sorry for all of those who lost. it is experience i never had. >> reporter: major lost to tony blair and his new labour party. some said because of maggie thatcher. because of her they say, the labour party was forced to

reinvent itself ban an doing the left-wing history and moving more towards the center. thatcher's later years were marked with a fair amount of hardship and loss. her beloved husband and consort dennis died in 2003. her son mark was convicted and fined in south africa for procuring military hardware in the botched coup attempt in he can what tomorrow begin knee. she had a sear us of strokes that. she record ad speech for reagan's funeral which she attended. she kept. she relished the party thrown for her honor in 19. she spent many post downing street years whiting her memoirs and promoting the virtues of thatcherism and kept her hand in politics as long as she could. her importance in the key figure of international politics was always recognized. in september 2010 "the iron lady" appeared with the

current and past u.k. prime ministers to welcome pope benedict xvi on his historic visit to london. soon after in october of that same year she was hospitalized after a bought of influenza but again, lady thatcher displayed her iron will to fight back. she once said her epithet should read, she restored britain, provocative absolutely in her conviction to the end. gregg: that was amy kellogg reporting. margaret thatcher never once to mince words was a virulent enemy of socialism. three years before she became prime minister she said, quote, socialist two of thes traditionally do make a financial mess. they always run out of other people's money. martha: one of her most famous quotes. we'll hear a lot of those this morning. mrs. thatcher and ronald reagan as you heard in amy kellogg's package they were truly political soulmates and very close friends. reagan once called her the best man in england. she called him the second

most important man in her life next to her beloved husband dennis. in 2004 a taped eulogy of baroness thatcher was played at president reagan's state funeral. >> in in his lifetime ronald reagan was a cheerful and invigorating presence but it was easy to forget what daunting tasks he set himself. he sought to mend america's wounded spirit. to reare so the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism. martha: incredible video that we're seeing this morning that remind you so much of her, very strong internal core of strength in her convictions. there is another picture the two leader who shared their disdain for communism and helped to bring it down of course a passion for small government. what america knows as reaganomics is still called thatcherism in britain. they clearly shared their unique and strong philosophy

on the economy, certainly did. mrs. thatcher, by the way first got her nickname, iron lady, from a soviet reporter after a 1976 speech in which she declared that the russians are bent on world dominance. well, in 1991 baroness thatcher was awarded the u.s. medal of need dom by president george hw bush, a year after she stepped down as prime minister. >> margaret thatcher helped bring the cold war to an end. helped the human will outlast bayonets and barbed-wire. she sailed freedom's ship wherever it was imparled. crusader, idealist, and realist. this heroic woman made history move her way. prime minister, there will always be an england but there can never be another margaret thatcher. martha: boy. gregg: never will be. martha: she led an incredible life. i love what she said in the earlier quote she play, no, i don't really think there will be a woman prime

minister of england during my lifetime. it doesn't matter. it doesn't matter if it is a man or woman. it matters somebody who has the strength of conviction to bring great britain back to its former strength. clearly turned out to be that person. it was never about her being a woman. which is something i always respected. the relationships she had with world leaders, that wasn't discussed. it was she was the toughest person for the job at the moment and she brought all of that strength to bear in her task. gregg: without intending to be she was a trailblazer for women. my favorite quote actually is, if you want something said ask a man. if you want something done, ask a woman. that was margaret thatcher. martha: more of, from this incredible woman and her life. she really had a life of consequence, you know, and she was a leader that will be remembered for centuries to come. so many leaders will not and she clearly was one of them. gregg: that is true.

gregg: the white house vowing it will not bow to increasing pressure from north korea even as concerns mount that the communist regime is planning another missile test within 48 hours. >> we would win if there was a, all-out conflict but the fact is that north korea could set seoul on fire and that obviously would be a catastrophe of enormous proportions. i don't know what kind of game this young man is playing. it is obviously brinkmanship. gregg: north korean military officials warning this weekend it is not a question of but when there will be war. david piper is streaming live from seoul, south korea, with more. david, there seems to be yet more threats from the north every day. what is behind this? >> reporter: all right, gregg, does seem to be a remembrance of the cold war which thatcher was a major player. they have still have the old

playbook of this stalinist public relations. south korea is suggesting that they're trying to grab the headlines here every day and today another headline. they have now pulled out all their workers from their joint industrial plant with south korea, just above the demilitarized zone. so you can see that north korea is trying to keep the pressure up on the u.s. and its allies during this crisis, gregg. gregg: and, what kind of presence does the u.s. have there, david? >> reporter: well, in the region the u.s. of course has a major presence with its bases. they have got 30,000 troops here in south korea. it also has got a huge naval presence. we understand there are naval ships off guam to protect that island and that they are shipping in a radar defense system there in case of an attack by north korea which it has threatened over the past week, gregg.

gregg: david piper streaming live from seoul, south korea. we'll check back in with you more on that. martha: david was referring about this of our presence in the region. since the korean the united states has maintained nearly 30,000 troops in the south. 18,000 of those troops are based halfway between seoul and the demilitarized zone and in 17 different u.s. military camps. so obviously the situation in south korea is of utmost importance to americans. gregg: the question is are we on the brink of war right now or is north korea just posturing as it seems to do every springtime? fox news national security analyst kt macfarland will be joining us live. >> a foxnews.com reporter facing jail time for refusing to reveal a confidential source in a fight over the first amendment rights. we'll have that coming up. gregg: hundreds of special-ops vets are challenging the white house about what really happened in benghazi. they're accusations and demands coming up next.

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gregg: 700 special operations veterans are urging congress to back a committee, a specific committee that would investigate last year's benghazi terrorist attack. the group called, special operations speaks sending a letter to lawmakers that says in part, quote, the families of those slain in benghazi are servicemen and women around the fwlob and the american public deserve the truth, not the lies. misdirection and stonewalling coming from president obama. byron york is the chief political correspondent from the "washington examiner", a fox news contributor. do you think this will make any difference at all, byron? >> well, it could. you will notice the letter is directed at house of representatives, no not to congress in general because the republicans control the house of representatives and he have they the power to issue subpoenas about benghazi and anything else if thee choose. so far, republicans led by

house speaker john boehner have decided not to form a pegs commit tea but they are talking with some of the republicans in the senate where democrats control but republicans in the senate who are very interested in this issue and they're kind of pooling their resources right now but so far the subpoenas that these former special-ops people want to see have not been coming from the house. gregg: in the letter they identify 16 very specific questions that they want answered that unbelievably seven months after the fact have not yet been answered. let's put a few of them up on the screen of the these are just four or five of them. why was there no military response? why have the survivors not been questioned? who is in the white house situation room during the attack that lasted about eight hours? who gave the order to stand down that was heard repeatedly during the attacks? are you astonished that, these are still, and again, seven months later, unanswered questions? >> they are and, you know,

one thing you will notice about that, you remember this whole controversy got started because of the explanation that the administration gave after the attack. they said it had been a result of this anti-muslim video which a lot of republicans were skeptical about. turned out not to be the case. these questions on the on the other hand folked on events leading up to and during the september 11th attack at the consulate in benghazi and they are about military readiness and what was and what was not done and you will notice they do talk about these survivors. members of congress in the house and the senate have been very frustrated. there are supposed to be up to 30 survivors. some of them might still be hospitalized. 30 survivors of this and nobody has gotten a chance to talk to any of them. i think you will see republicans, especially in the house where they have the majority power continuing until they finally get to talk to somebody who survived that attack. gregg: reporters have actually talked to one of the main suspects in the

case and yet apparently the american government has not. look, there was an investigation that came out, a report, in december that identified a systemic failures in the department of state. now is there more to it than just systemic failures? is there incompetence and do you suspect a cover-up over the last seven months? >> well there were actual decisions. we know that christopher stevens, the ambassador to libya who was killed in the attack, had been warning of security problems in libya saying this is a big problem, asking for more help which he did not get. from the state department. so it is common bureaucratic answer to say there were systemic problems when in fact some actual person made a decision and that's what republicans are trying to figure out. still don't have the answers. gregg: and bottom line, a lot of people want to know where was the president during those eight hours? is that a burning question? >> well it still is.

we don't know exactly what he was doing and the bottom line there will be continued clashing over this because democrats really view this as something that is completely over. remember hillary clinton appeared before the senate on january 23rd and was asked all these questions, she said, what difference does it make at this point? well, that is a pretty accurate assessment what democrats think about this but republicans in the house where they control are still determined to get more answers on it. gregg: it certainly makes a load of difference to the families of those who lost their lives and of course many who were injured. byron york, as always, thanks very much. >> thank you, gregg. gregg: all right. martha: could it be a budget finally heading to the printer? the president's plan we're told will be delivered to congress on wednesday of this week. the white house has a new message to republican leadership about his budget. gregg: freedom of the press is at establishing. a foxnews.com reporter facing jail time standing up

for a long-standing journalistic principle and she wouldn't be the first to serve time. >> because they haven't been able to find who it was that leaked her this information, supposedly against the judge's gag ruling, they have gone after her and they're saying, you have to tell us who your source was or you're going to go to jail. hey! [squeals] ♪ [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. introducing the versatile, all-new subaru forester. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together

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colorado's shield law states that, quote, no news person shall without such news person's express consent be compelled to disclose the examine concerning refusal to disclose, presumption to any legal presumption of any kind, cited, held in contempt, or subjecting to any sanctions for refusing to disclose information contained while acting in the capacity of a news person. sound like a pretty clear law, doesn't it? fox news senior judicial analyst judge andrew napolitano. how do you get around of that. >> i'm sighing because there are loopholes to that law you could drive a truck through. shortly following the statement that you read it says, except as follows. and one of the as follows is, when the court's need to know, is greater than the reporter's need to keep secrets. now, the court could claim, we're talking about a judge here, the court could claim that its need to know is great. you can't get into the judge's mind.

you don't know what the judge is trying to figure out. they can't put her on the stand and make her answer questions but they can put her in jail until she does cough up her source. why do stho want to know the source? the source presumably is somebody from law enforcement. who else would have known about the notebook? martha: we should go back. it is all billion a notebook that james holmes had. obviously you had the scene of the crime, the movie theater. then you had his apartment. >> right. martha: she was able, was given information on his diary things that he wrote. they had a gag order that came down. the timing on when the gag order came down and when she revealed this story is one. issues at that will come up in all of this. >> service that she performed, the revelation of a truth, is a profound good. the public has a need and a desire to know. it's a matter of material public interest. and the question is, what did the government know about james holmes and when did it know it? and we know that from looking at these notebooks that the psychiatrist to

whom the notebooks were delivered, a government employee, knew about this and knew about his deranged mental state before these killings and informed the police. it is profound that the public knows that. without her incredible work the public wouldn't know that. she not only did nothing wrong you she did a profound good by getting these notes and revealing their existence. now they want to put her in jail. martha: the defense is saying somehow this information that was revealed in that reporting has made it difficult or impossible for her, for their client, james holmes, to get a fair trial. >> i don't think so. you know it is the job of judges to find 12, in this case 16 because you have four alternates on the jury who can put aside what they know about the case and be truly fair. that is what judges do. that's what judges are paid for. i did this thousands of times. judges know how to do this and they shouldn't be looking for shortcuts. the reason this is so

important is because without whistle-blowers, without the shield law, without reporters protecting their sources, when the government is involved we would have to rely exclusively on the government for this information. the government is not very good about coming forward with information that makes itself look bad. and that's why reporters and their sources need to be protected. martha: framers of our constitution knew something about that. >> it incorporated it all in the first amendment. martha: you know something about the constitution. >> a little bit. martha: judge, wonderful to have you with us. see you later. >> pleasure, martha. martha: first i tell you this, read judge napolitano's excellent piece on this. foxnews.com/free press fight and read what he said about that on the website today. thank you, judge. >> thank you. gregg: required reading. the big sell is on as the white house gets ready it present its 2014 budget wednesday. a live report from the white house. martha: and the passing of margaret thatcher, a look at her close relationship with an important ally and her

political soulmate president ronald reagan as world leaders remember today the woman who became known as "the iron lady". >> as our first woman prime minister margaret thatcher succeeded against all the odds and the real thing about margaret thatcher is that she didn't just lead our country, she saved our country and i believe she will go down as one the greatest british he is peacetime prime minister. zap technology. arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

gregg: welcome back. the president's budget is heading to the press right now. calls for a mix of tax increases, more of them, as well as some cuts in entitlements but it might be a tough sell. >> there are nuggets of his budget i think are optimistic. overall a bad plan for the economy but when you look at chain cpi and medicare reductions, we're beginning to set the stage for a grand bargain. gregg: wendell goler live at the white house with more. what are the prospects for agreement in the u.s. senate? >> reporter: well, gregg, i think the president likes them. that is why he is targeting senate republicans with his charm offensive. lindsey graham, which we heard from was the first group of republicans mr. obama took for dinner last month. the president will take a second group to dinner wednesday after his budget is released. he can bend on raising the social security retirement age as he already had, using a method called chain consumer price index to

calculate annual benefit increases. >> if the president willand he d some leadership, no democrat will get to his right. nobody will adjust the age of retirement if the president doesn't embrace it. nobody will adjust cpi if the president doesn't embrace it. so he is showing some signs of leadership that has been lacking. >> reporter: so far the president rejected the idea of raising the retirement age for social security, gregg. gregg: what about prospects in the house? not so optimistic there? >> reporter: not so good. house speaker john boehner rejected any new tax revenue unless it is used to lower anyone's tax rates. the tax hike on families making more than $450,000 a year that went into effect this year is the only one republicans will accept. the president's aides say that means the poor and middle class will bear the whole cost of lowering the budget deficit. >> if you're looking for the answer to the question as to why the approval rating of congressional republicans is at an historic low look no mart than that statement. their view is my way or the

highway. do exactly what i want. give massive tax breaks to the wealthy and ask the middle class to pay the freight. that is not what the american people want. >> reporter: piper warned the president's budget will leave both sides on the left and right unhappy but if he can get it through the senate, something he has hasn't happened since he took office he might forge a compromise with the house in the conference committee. gregg. gregg: wendell goler live from the white house. thank you. martha: the deaths of great britain's margaret thatcher, one of the finest prime ministers country ever had, some would argue perhaps the finest. we remember a special political relationship and friendship between margaret thatcher and president ronald reagan. president reagan famously skate the lord brought us together for a profound purpose. and on his 83rd birthday back in 1994, mrs. thatcher honored her dear friend's legacy. take a look at. that. >> you showed into our midst at a time when america

needed you most. this great country had been through a period of national malaise, bereft of any sense of moral direction. threw it all, throughout eight of the fastest moving years in memory, you were unflapable and unyielding. you are not only america's president, important as that is, you were a great leader. in a time of average men you stood taller than anyone else. [applause] martha: great tribute. art laffer joineds me now. he served as president reagan's economic advisor. knew her well and dined with her and her husband dennis at his home in california.

>> thank you, martha. martha: talk to me. tell me about your thoughts on her this morning? >> she was normal person in personal life. she was a girlie girl. she was well-ground. she wasn't some weird person. they talked about her set in her ways and transsy gent and dictatorial. that is not true. if you presented a good argument to lady thatcher when she was prime minister or otherwise she would listen to it and evaluate it, consider it and in many cases change her mind on subjects. the first tax cut she did with jeffrey howe and cut taxes where they were never paid or raised tax where it couldn't be avoided that was in '79 and 80. that didn't work out well. when nigel lawson became chancellor of the exchequer she drop the highest rate. you got a boom of incredible proportions. just a person, tony blair thought for example she was the best prime minister ever. i check with my friend who was his chief economist and i was having dinner with her

in chester square where she lived in office and i told her, i said before we have indidder i've got to tell you that tony blair, prime minister blair thinks you're the best prime minister the u.k. has ever had. she sort of giggled and said, oh, i quite like him too. i mean she transcended party labels. she was phenomenal. if you talk about reagan being taller than any man ever, margaret thatcher was taller than any lady ever. she was as great for britain as reagan was for the united states. i will miss her terribly. martha: in many ways, she, she made it look easy to be as strong and have such, you know, sort of very strong convictions as she did. >> exactly. martha: it was not easy and there was a ton of backlash to what she was doing, in terms of, you know, cutting entitlements and union-busting in great britain. >> yes. martha: she went up against people who were so entrenched and she was fearless in that regard, art.

>> yes, internally it was easy. good logic, you can only get one answer when you add up a column of numbers. there is no compromise on that answer. it is right or it's not right. people don't work to pay taxes. they work to get paid after tax. dealing with all these peoplings on privatizing rail and coal and iron all this, she understood the economics. she wasn't willing to compromise at the expense of the british people. she did a great job on that. the only time i remember a problem existing between reagan and thatcher was on the falkland island and whether she so go down there and do that. bottom line i think she was ultimately correct. she did the right thing getting argentina and falkland islands that was a clash between reagan and thatcher at that time. she did what she knew was right and sooner or later it paid off and paid off gloriously. martha, she wasn't thrown out of the prime minister seat by the liberals. she was thrown out by labour. she was thrown out of the

prime minister's seat by her own party. she was followed by major who quickly turned off the country and then, you got tony blair who was a great prime minister as well. it is just an amazing era and so sad. martha: she talks about in that clip we just showed, she talked about ronald reagan as being not just a great president but a great leader. and we talked a lot, art, about leadership and what that takes and, you know, i think of people of consequence in history, right? so many leaders just come and go, really. schoolchildren years from now won't remember most of them. >> true. martha: she was a leader, a human being, who had real consequence in her lifetime. >> and a real person. when you were sitting there with her and talking she was normal. she didn't have an agenda. she wasn't driven by some beast of her childhood. she was very, very focused on making britain and the world a far better place and she knew how to add numbers. she knew how to look at incentives. economics is all about

incentives. people like doing what they find attractive and are repelled by things they find unattractive. she knew perfectly well if you tax people who work and pay people who don't work you will get lots of people not working. this isn't the position that is compromiseable. and neither she nor reagan compromised on it and both of them were correct. you can see the results in both countries. it is just spectacular what she and ronald reagan did and did together. some day, maybe we'll have time to go through a lot of personal stories i could tell you --. martha: i would love that art. let's put that on the calendar. >> thank you. just loads of fun being with them. martha: we would love to hear more from you. art, thank you so much. do that later. art laffer, thanks for being with us. gregg: the son-in-law of usama bin laden heading to federal court today. we are live at the courthouse with this controversial case. martha: plus the u.s. delaying a missile test. why the white house is saying it is absolutely not because of north korean

pressure. our next guest says that there is a reason to get involved in this crisis. we'll be right back.

martha: we are starting to see the scenes around london as they mourn the passing of margaret thatcher. and there is the flag at ten downing street where she lived as prime minister for 10 years flying at half-staff right now. we also can tell you there will be a funeral service held at st. paul's cathedral in london and more details are coming out. margaret thatcher, passing away this morning as the world remembers the woman known, as "the iron lady". more coming up. gregg: the white house is saying its decision to post tone -- postpone a missile test is not a sign it is bowing to pressure from north korea. >> we will continue to further isolate themselves from the world. they will further hurt themselves. north korean people are starving because of actions

like the north koreans are taking right now. gregg: how should we react to barrage of threats from the north? kt macfarland, fox news security analyst. joins us here on the set. they say we're not caving into pressure from north korea. >> right. gregg: is this a sign of weakness or the right thing to do? >> i guess it is a shows a sign of weak nist but the right thing to do. kim has climbed out on the limb, you want to help him get out of that limb because you could have a war and it could escalate, and nobody wants that war. i think as a result of what has happened this is the time we go to the chinese once this crisis abaits and say look, your job is to rein this guy in. you want to be big players on the world stage, who are we going to do this together? gregg: right. >> the last thing we want next year you have another crisis. gregg: he has spent decades asking the chinese to step in and do something about its client state of north korea. >> they have not done anything. gregg: nothing. >> why? because they have been content to have that be a

low boil. they like the fact that the united states is off balance, japanese and south koreans. times have changed for the following reason. if this boils over what happens? korea, gets nuclear. south korea gets nuclear weapons. japan remilitarizes they get nuclear weapons. or north korean regime collapses. you have millions of north korean refugees running over the chinese border. gregg: they said strike u.s. targets with nuclear weapons? is that our policy we will beg the chinese to do something? is that our policy. >> no, that is not our policy. south koreans will test a missile this week. technically that is something we shoot down. if the missile starts look like going in the direction of japan, south korea, we shoot that down and don't ask any questions. if they test the missile, get to say great victory, blah, blah. what do you take away from all this? what has north korea accomplished throughout the

clinton, bush, obama administration. they all said no nukes for north korea. north korea has nukes. gregg: they had them for a long time. >> they had them for several years and nobody has stopped them. what does that mean? that means iran is watching. iran is saying if you haven't stopped that pipsqueak country north korea from getting nukes you will never stop us. at that point what we ought to realize the missile shield that ronald reagan talked about, 30 years ago, it is time to build that thing now. gregg: all right. before we run out of time, you knew margaret thatcher. >> yes. gregg: i want to get your thoughts about her passing. >> everybody will talk about how she changed british, the british government. how she revived the economy and helped win the cold war. she did all those things. i think as a woman it is really important to remember she did this on her own. she wasn't somebody's wife or mother or sister. she did it on her own and she did it at a time when women didn't have those jobs. when she broke that glass ceiling for all women, it really made a difference are. she was wonderful to me,

when i was running for the u.s. senate, gregg, she sat down with me at cap wine per ger's funeral, look at a woman you have to be smarter and better prepared for any man. she told me what she had done, essays she had written. and gave me practical advice. take two dresses to an interview in case one doesn't match. her ability to dominate a room, no wonder she got everything accomplished. after margaret thatcher no one even dared to disagree with her until the end. gregg: she had force of great reason and argument. quite a person. >> first win the argument, then you win the election. gregg: that's right. kt macfarland. thank you very much. martha: always bring two dresses. >> always bring two dresses. gregg: i will skip the two dress. >> coming up, remember those warnings that flights across the nation could be impacted because the sequester and budget cuts? we're now learning that one of the largest airports in the country will soon feel

that pain. the ripple effect means that air parts across the country could feel it too. gregg: the president is heading to connecticut to talk about gun control legislation. will mr. obama have to back away from one of the key components of his second term agenda? we'll have a fair and balanced debate just ahead. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote. a [applause] the families of newtown deserve a vote. [applause] the families of aurora deserve a vote.

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martha: air travel plans for the week, listen up to this, there could be some major delays at your local airport all because of the budget cuts in washington. mike tobin is live at one of the nationest's busiest

airports that goes back and forth with atlanta, chicago's o'hare international airport. what we think will go on with all of this, mike? >> reporter: martha, your troubles could start before you even get to the airplane or get inside the terminal. for starters, tsa agents are in line for furloughs. the process getting shoes off, metal, getting through the line behind me could take longer. you get beyond that, the faa is talking about closing 149 control towers across-country. if you don't have as many people engaged in the task of separating airplanes that means you have more airplanes stuck on the tarmac. >> the external factors play no realm into my safety factor. if we don't have the people looking at the airplanes and separating those airplanes, they should not be in the sky and effectively we won't let them into the sky. >> reporter: now the towers in line to be closed are mostly at small airports but here at o'hare they're talking about closing the north tower. without the north tower,

controllers don't have unobstructed view of runway 27 right. that means o'hare would go from capacity depending on conditions of landing 117 planes an hour to landing 79. any experienced traveler knows when o'hare slows down you have people stuck in the termnal from lax to laguardia. the only good news i can tell you the cuts were scheduled to go into effect on saturday. they are now delayed until june. martha. martha: maybe that is good news and they will working is out by then. so many across the country will say why don't you do something else than close down the tower so central to moving things well, why that cut? >> reporter: well, you know, when you talk to your aviation experts they will tell you that the cuts are political in nature. mark albert is one commercial pilot and aviation analyst that we spoke w he said this president has been unfriendly to aviation from the get-go. these cuts would be a means of inconveniencing the traveling public and therefore turning up the heat on the political

opposition. he says the cuts are unnecessary and definitely driven by politics, martha? martha: mike, thank you very much. gregg: the family of a district attorney gunned down in texas is speaking out. why they say not enough is being done to protect prosecutors because of the dangers they face each and every day. of course the world today remembering great britain's iron lady. former prime minister margaret thatcher who transformed the nation and inspired conservatives worldwide, passing away this morning at the age of 87. we're live in london with reaction. [ male announcer ] at charles schwab, we've committed to setting the bar high

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that attract and lock up to two timesore dust than a feather duster. swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. and now swiffer dusters refills are available with the fresh scent of gain. martha: the world remembering margaret thatcher today. here is a live look outside the former british prime minister's home. you can see the cameras gathered. that is her home in belgravia she died peacefully this morning we're told after suffering a stroke. mrs. thatcher was 87 years old. we have lots of coverage of her story this morning as we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom." glad to have you with us everybody. i'm martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. thatcher is certainly one of the towering figures of the 20th century. her faith in the free markets led her country out of socialism and the economic despair of the late '70s. great britain's first woman prime minister had a huge impact all over the world.

martha: greg palkot joins us now live from london. so, greg, what has the reaction there been to this announcement this morning? >> reporter: martha, gregg, you can imagine, it has only been about two hours since we learned of passing of margaret thatcher. already there has been a huge reaction here in the u.k. and around the world. she was the first woman u.k. prime minister and she was also the longest-serving u.k. prime minister in the 20th century. some at least one analyst called her, the towering political figure in the u.k. in postwar history. and she left her mark all around the world. here at home she stood up against the unions, against big government, and abroad she stood up against communism. especially the then soviet union. along the way she reshaped her political party, her conservative political party and made it what it today. here is what the current prime minister, a conservative, david cameron

had to say about the late margaret thatcher. >> today is truly sad day for our country, we lost a great prime minister, a great leader, a great britain. as our first woman prime minister prime minister margaret thatcher succeeded against all the odds and the real thing about margaret thatcher is that she didn't just lead our country. she saved our country. >> reporter: again, we're hearing from a lot of people, guys. we're hearing from the former u.k. prime minister, tony blair. on the other side of the aisle politically, a labour politician calling her, a towering political figure. we're hearing from the former leader of the then soviet, mikhail gorbachev. remember this is the person that margaret thatcher said she and maybe the west could do business with to achieve the end of the cold war. what did mikhail gorbachev call her? a brilliant person. and israeli problem netanyahu, strong words from him as well, calling her a friend of the jewish people

of the israelis. he said she was a woman of determination, of conviction, of strength. gregg, martha. martha: the funeral plans, gregg, we understand are now in the works. this will be quite a gathering of so many of the world leaders, perhaps some of whom you just mentioned. >> reporter: exactly. we're getting some word in the past hour or so what will be happening. there will be one step down from a full state funeral but it will have all the trappings for something of a very important person. it is being described as a ceremonial funeral with military honors. the queen herself has authorized it. it will be held at st. paul's cathedral in the landmark in london, seen so much in past ceremonies and past events. they say there will in fact be a wide and diverse range of people we could imagine who could be showing up. for her part the queen by the way expressed her sadness. we're hearing from folks across the pond. former president george w. bush, calling,

calling thatcher, a great ally. a person who strengthened the relationship between the u.k. and the u.s. of course the relationship between former president ronald reagan and thatcher absolutely key to ending the cold war. and maybe changing things, domestically, politically on both sides of the atlantic. the two of them called political soulmates. back to you. martha: you look what is going on, greg, as you often do, in the role of the rest of europe, it takes your mind back she was so determined the british pound would not become a euro. they would not be part of that in a monetary way, part of the european union of course. and perhaps that was one of her many great decisions for the future of her country. >> reporter: she certainly believed in the u.k. and believed in the history and believed in her own, own thinking on things, both domestically and internationally. this lady is not for turning she once said and everybody believed her on that. yes, her stand against a

full integration of the u.k. into the european union was one of her tenets, one much her political tenets. and in fact some of the problems that resulted from that politically, domestically ended up being her demise. she ended her term in office, just before her final term, the third term was set to finish. in certainly, it was 11 years that the u.k., the world, will remember. back to you, martha. martha: thank you so much, greg. we'll see you later. gregg: we are joined now on the phone by presidential historian paul ki. kor the author of the book, ronald reagan and the fall of communism. thanks for taking a few minutes. i understand you were literally preparing a lecture on margaret thatcher today when we all learned of her passing. >> yes, that is exactly right. i was in the normal spot in my modern europe class. and it's when i started

about a week of lectures on margaret thatcher where i refer to her as one of the greatest leaders, not only of the cold war, but of the 20th century but of british history. we've lost, we've lost a great one today. gregg: explain why you say that. >> well, i mean there were about a half dozen pivotal figures in the end of the cold war. you had ronald reagan, pope john paul ii, mikhail gorbachev, lech walesa. had havel, boris yeltsin and margaret thatcher. she is one of the key figures who helped dissolve, take down what was genuinely a truly evil empire and you know, a lot of folks realized, i mean we call her "the iron lady" because of what she did, taking on the soviet union and battling against communism but she was also "the iron lady" what she did in britain. she took on domestically the powerful public sector

government unions, which had paralyzed the british economy. the british, the british labour party beginning around 1945 nationalized, i mean, practically everything in sight in britain. i mean the government had taken over massive parts of the economy, not just medicine but also gas and oil and electricity. gregg: transportation. >> transportation, yeah. it was incredible. and so she came in in the 1970s, or, 1979 into the 1980s and she privatized all these industrys. she really, literally freed britain once again and, brought it back to where it had been 40, 50 years earlier. gregg: it wasn't easy. the thatcherite revolution when it got off to its first initial start in 1979-1980, it was rough going.

the public opinion polls were rock bottom for her. >> it was and it is an amazing testimony that even after that huge victory in 1979, and again after the labour party just had a strangle hold on politics for so long, she overcome that initial downturn in public opinion and win again in 1983 and again in 1987. so this is somebody who won three terms. she was in from '79 to 90. you think about this. when she ultimately stepped aside for john major, who was also a conservative -- he was in power, he was until '97. so there is a run there from 1979 to 1997, almost 20 years of the british right being in power. gregg: right. >> that out did the united states who had two reagan terms and one bush term. we only had united states

three terms of republicans. she really changed politics there. gregg: dr. paul kengor, presidential historian. thanks so much for being with us. >> sure. gregg: martha. martha: as we said many times here this morning, margaret thatcher and president ronald reagan had a very close relationship. in 1994 she spoke at his 83rd birthday celebration. we look back at that moment. >> with a toughness unseen for the long time, you stood face-to-face with the evil empire. and with an unexpected diplomacy, with confused your foes, and even some of your friends, [laughter] you reached out to that empire, perhaps no longer evil, but still formidable, you met its leaders on their turf, but on your terms [applause] martha: margaret thatcher

first met president reagan in 1975, four years before she was elected prime minister. she was the first foreign leader to visit mr. reagan in washington after his inauguration in 1981. she was the last foreign visitor at the white house at the end of president reagan's second term, book ending his presidency in the white house with her important visits. that happened in 198. gregg: how appropriate. mrs. thatcher was britain he is first and only female prime minister. her influence felt long after she left office in here's "the iron lady" when she left 10 downing street for the last time. >> ladies and gentlemen, we're leaving downing street for the last time, after 11 1/2 wonderful years and we're very happy that we leave the united kingdom in a very, very much better state than when we came here 11 1/2 years ago. gregg: and indeed she had transformed great britain.

brit hume, fox news senior political correspondent. he will be joining us live in a few minutes. martha: yeah. and this alert coming in moments ago. usama bin laden's son-in-law expected in a new york city courtroom later today just blocks from ground zero. suleman abu ghaith pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kill americans back in february. eric shawn is live outside the courthouse in lower manhattan this morning. eric, what do we expect today? >> reporter: he is the son-in-law of usama bin laden and we expect him to be in a pretrial conference in courtroom from federal court, blocks from ground zero, not in a tribunal in gitmo. they will deal with the schedule and paperwork and that sort of thing. he is charged with conspiring to kill americans. best known as spokesman for al qaeda and some videos that appeared on al-jazeera. the day after 9/11 he was quoted saying muslims should

not get on airplanes because the storms will not stop. he was nabbed in jordan and flown by the fbi here to the united states. the authorities describe him reportedly as respectful and pleasant during their questioning. he lived in iran for the last decade, one of several00 al qaeda suspects considered and believed to have shelter in iran. iran says they were in jail. his trial should shed some light how they were treated, if it was that or under house arrest or something much more cushy. martha: one of the family members have to say about this today? >> reporter: family members are mixed. you may remember the furor over trying, potentially trying, khalid sheikh mohammed in this very courthouse. the administration had to back down off of that. one family members who supports it jim richards. a retired deputy fire chief of the new york city fire department. his son also named jim was killed on 9/11. richards he says he thinks the gitmo trials are going too slowly and accused terrorists should be put

away as possible. >> families here are waiting for justice, craving for just is it. plenty of families in my group want to see the trial. we'll march up manhattan and face his penalty bragging how he was so proud that he killed 3,000 innocent americans. >> reporter: if convicted abu ghaiths could face life, not death, life in prison. back to you. martha: eric, thank you very much. gregg: the family of a murdered texas prosecutor and his wife now speaking out. why they are very angry with law enforcement. and what they could have to say that might have saved their loved ones. martha: plus lost for four days on a hiking trail. now speaking out about his ordeal and he tells us why he never had any doubt that they would make it back safely. >> i was unconscious for about a day, i believe so. i was really dehydrated. i gave kendall the last bit of water. i told her i don't have much longer. he remember her saying don't close your eyes, don't close

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>> where there is discord, may we bring harmony. where there is a irrecord, may we bring truth. where there is doubt, may we bring faith. and where there is despair, may we bring hope. martha: that was margaret thatcher in 1979 quoting the prayer of st. francis of assisi. that is when she became great britain's prime minister. brit hume met margaret thatcher in 1990. he covered the white house during that whole period of reagan and thatcher's strongest moments. he is fox news senior political analyst. good morning, brit. good to have you here today. >> hi, martha. thank you. martha: what were your thoughts when you heard about her passing this morning and her great impact on world events throughout the course of her life? >> well she really was a giant and remembered in america for a relationship of course with president reagan which was indeed a close relationship but remembered by others as well for her relationship with president bush whom i covered, first president

bush. and, i remember the british media, martha, were full of all sorts of buzz around 1989 how the special relationship existed between reagan and thatcher was now over and that president bush be seeking a partnership with the german prime minister helmut kohl and that was the new special relationship. but when things got tough, the first person that president bush always wanted to cult consult was thatch that. that happened when iraq invade the kuwait. he went to aspen to a conference he would have canceled any other time but she was there and he wanted to talk to her and she had an effect on him. i remember, martha, a particularly a summit that occurred between president bush and thatchta. on -- margaret thatcher on bermuda. there was a time about concern of nato and german reunification was in the process. he wanted to see her. it was a very windy day.

it was one of the humid windy days you get on the tropical islands and wind was blowing like crazy two leaders came out to talk to the press, president bush didn't have a whole lot of area, his hair was blowing all over the place and everybody else's hair was blowing all over the place. mrs. thatcher's hair was rock solid. i was standings next to marlon fitzwater and bush's press secretary and margaret thatcher's press secretary and i said what does she use on her hair? he said, and paused and said, thompson's water seal. martha: i have to get some of that. so far we have two pieces of advice. always bring two dresses or suits everywhere you could. told kt macfarland to do as a woman in the world and thompson water seal on the hair. >> i think he was getting but i never knew for sure. martha: you know, brit, i'm thinking what is going on now in the white house and you think about health care and the huge battle that's

underway to try to implement that large, you know, sort of social system of health care in this country and you think about the budget which we'll get on wednesday and, we have a very different philosophy in this country right now, than we did when president shared his views with margaret thatcher. >> that's true, martha. the remember this the one thing margaret thatcher every never did, privatized a lot of british economy which came under government control but she didn't, but the national health system was a bridge too far. that remains in place. remains in place to this day for good or ill depending who you talk to. that is the direction a lot of people think we're headed with obamacare and with much else that is happening with regard to government entitlement benefits. it lies, those programs lie at the center of the anxiety with people are feeling about the alarming levels of national debt and continuingly high deficits. and that's how the table is kind of set now. people who admired margaret thatcher think we're tending

too far away from what she would have recommended had she been around. martha: she talked in a speech we played a bit earlier about the return of self-reliance and independence in great britain and she was wrestling with the unions at the time. we've seen some of the governors around this country try to wrestle with pension packages they have with the unions. it is not an easy job and she got a ton of backlash for it be, of course. >> well, she did. i remember, for example, when our sister publications, "the london sun" and "the london times", were moved into a new location, brand new plant where they exist to this day, this was done overnight and it was done in the midst of a strike and the publications resumed immediately. the strike was broken and there was violence in the streets and mrs. thatcher would not have it. and she made sure that this went forward.

and she was hated by the unions but she policed that area with vigor and effectiveness and allowed this transition which i think a lot of people agree today, saved not only those newspapers which were choking on the costs of associated with the union benefits and payments and so forth but other newspapers to thrive as well because of what happened then. martha: thank you, brit. interesting. >> you bet. martha: thanks for the thompson's water seal tip. we'll take that one to heart. >> bye-bye. gregg: don't try that at home. the world has certainly lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty. we'll have more on the life, the legacy. a grocer's daughter who rose to become britain's first female prime minister. she stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can not be shattered. more on that coming up. plus a shocking revelation from america's top military

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martha: a tragic story from north carolina where crews have now found the bodies of two children who were trapped in a residential construction site. authorities have been searching for the 6-year-old girl and the 7-year-old boy since yesterday afternoon. the father of one of these children says that they were playing in an area that was being dug out to make way for a new home when suddenly the dirt collapsed over them. gregg: the taliban is likely to be a long-term threat in afghanistan. that from general martin dempsey. also saying, quote, i suspect there would still be contested areas because the history of afghanistan

suggests there will always be contested areas, end quote. captain pete hegseth with concerned veterans of america. a veteran of iraq and afghanistan. thanks so much for being with us. is this sort of what happens instead of withdrawal based on conditions, you set a prescribed timetable? >> yes. and, what you're going to see happening in afghanistan, what the chairman admitted is basically an open secret there. we've known for quite some time the taliban controls a lot of areas that we don't control or americans once controlled. whereas the afghan army may control populated areas, a lot of the civilian population, a lot of countryside are controlled by the taliban. we'll hoist that afghan army out there in 2014 to maintain those gains. whether they're ready or not and he is cautiously optimistic. with all due deference and respect to the chairman, he is open hoping they will stand their ground and we'll see. gregg: does it complicate

the matters, captain, this is a government that is not really regarded there as legitimate? >> absolutely. the legitimacy of a central government is key in counterinsurgency warfare or any con like like this. if the people don't see the government in their best interests, they will turn to the alternative. for a while it was americans and coalition. when we leave who is left. the taliban. they provide basic security in the count veriside. whether they like him or not is inconsequential. they will go where the needs are met. if taliban does it regardless of. the government has been corrupt. it doesn't help our cows. gregg: captain, finally should america's greatest concern be that the taliban is still in bed with al qaeda? and they may well provide a safe haven in afghanistan once again for al qaeda to launch operations and train? >> of course. that is why afghanistan matters. it is u.s. strategic if interests. we can not allow a haven

where the tall -- taliban and al qaeda could launch operations against us and further destablize the region. it is about our protection and america's future in the world. that is why it is so tragic we set a timeline when we could have set conditions to prevent it from taliban taking over. gregg: captain, thanks so much for being with us today. >> thank you. gregg: martha. martha: there are new developments into the investigation of the deadly terror attacks in benghazi. now more than 700 veterans special-ops saying that the american people deserve the truth and not lies and misdirection and stonewalling. what they are now asking congress to do. gregg: plus the family of a murdered texas prosecutor and his wife now speaking out. what they say could have saved their loved ones lives. >> now the family is more than angry. they're furious. and now that they have buried mom and dad and that part is over, they want answers. and they don't want them

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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! >> well, a group of 700 special ops veterans have signed a letter demanding to know the truth about what happened during the deadly benghazi attacks. they are claiming that the white house has only offered lies, misdirection and stonewalling, tsa from their letter, when it comes to this issue. joined by catherine herridge live in washington. good morning.

>> reporter: thank you, martha. this letter, first obtained by fox news, is signed by more than 700 special operations vets urging congress to back a select committee tasked with a pigs to investigate the benghazi attack, and founder told fox and friends this morning why it still matters. >> this has been slow rolled, as we say in the air force. if we wait long enough, maybe it will go away. but we owe the truth to the american people and particularly the families of the fallen. >> reporter: the letter includes 16 points of investigation from the well-documented warnings before the attack to the realtime decision making of president obama, secretary clinton and the defense department on the night of september 11th. the letter reads if part, quote: >> reporter: the letter also

questions why the survivors who were evacuated from the consulate in the cia annex have remained silent more than six months after the attack. martha: and one of the avenues that has been pursued to try to get answers to that is the select committee. where are we with that, catherine? >> reporter: the letter throws its support behind the creation of a select committee. republican congressman frank wolf has gathered 76 signatures in support of the plan, but before the house recess, the house speaker held a meeting with the chairman of the intelligence government oversight and foreign affairs committees whose staffers are already investigating. >> there were some members who wanted to have a conversation to kind of compare notes on what we know and what we don't know. and, frankly, there is a lot that we still don't know. >> reporter: a final report is expected from that group in weeks, not months, according to congressman mike rogers who heads the intelligence committee. what we don't know is whether this new push by the special ops

vets will change minds on capitol hill about creating a special committee just to look at benghazi. martha: we'll see. catherine, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. gregg: well, the family of a murdered district attorney and his wife speaking out now saying not enough was done to protect mike mcclelland and his wife, cynthia, after mccleggland's assistant prosecutor was gunned down. a family spokesman saying even mcclellan himself had concerns in the days leading up to his death. >> primarily, their concern is over the last closing weeks of mike and cynthia's lives, they expressed directly to their concerns, and those concerns being, you know, we live in a small town, there's not a lot of law enforcement here. do we have everything we need to do this? and on the investigative side, i know that mike expressed concerns that he tried to push forward up to the chain of

command, and the result of that, obviously, didn't yield a positive outcome. and we just buried mike and his wife. gregg: anna is an assistant district attorney in brooklyn, new york, and joins us here on the set. good to see you. >> you too. gregg: it would be one thing, i suppose, if the murders of the mcclellans happened for the first time, if it came out of sort of thin air. but mcclellan's assistant da had been gunned down in public in a parking lot. so were authorities there on notice that everybody could be at risk? >> yeah, of course they were on notice. i think, first of all, the nature of prosecutors are always under a bit of a threat. you can't get up every day and think about that or you couldn't do your job. here we have the most devastating of circumstances. we do know as the public that there were sheriffs guarding the mcclellans for at least a month after his assistant was gunned down. but, you know, one thing that you always have to point out,

and for the family's perspective, whatever they're feeling, that's legitimate. besides grief, an incredible amount of anger comes through that, and we can understand that. but because we aren't hearing it doesn't mean we know everything that's gone on. i cannot imagine they were not with the district attorney talking about what any credible threats or what leads they had and letting him be part of trying to make the decisions to keep himself and his family safe. unfortunately, we cannot always protect. and i say that as a prosecutor for the last 17 years. gregg: sure. >> so i feel this as much as anyone, and i think that for all of us we should worry about this for the criminal justice system. but i really think that so much remains unknown that how much can you protect? there is not always every hole to fill. gregg: until the killer of the assistant is found, maybe 24-hour protection is required of all the others. >> and that may well be the case, and maybe they should be doing that. but remember, this is an investigation that's on the state level, on the federal

level, the indictments came out. there are multiple counties. we're not talking about one small county, we're talking about people across the state and federally, and you have to start asking questions. i want every one of them to be safe. we all do. does that mean they all need 24-hour protection? maybe. it also depends what the authorities know, where their investigation is leading them, and those are decisions that do have to be made. gregg: do you worry about relate ri puce? >> of course. i mean, it's something that you can't get up and think about every day, but you do because we do see it happen, you know? i are say that, thankfully, generally as prosecutors nothing happens to us. gregg: but you get threats, don't you? >> yes. gregg: i know a bunch of prosecutors, and they get threats. >> but the people i worry about the most are witnesses. they are the people that by and large get too much of that because these people that are charged in these cases, they don't want their cases to go to trial. gregg: here's the troubling part. among the suspects in this particular case, the aryan

brotherhood of texas. this is a vicious gang that boasts, as i understand it, 4,000 members, and they're tied to about a hundred killings. and one of the things they do is they engage in torture. does that stop step up the need for protection? >> oh, it absolutely does. when you're talking about a gang mentality, the mentality of worst amongst the worst who really have nothing to lose whether it's because they are incarcerated for the rest of their lives and working with people on the outside or they just don't care, that always makes the stakes much higher. because when people don't care about the outcome to themselves, they have nothing to lose, and it's much harder to protect the prosecutors and, unfortunately, their families when you're dealing with that type of mentality. gregg: anna who is also a prosecutor, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. gregg: martha? martha: president obama heads to connecticut today to talk gun control, a major push from the start of his second term. but is the white house now starting to downplay their

expectations of getting anything done here? and a quick-thinking kayaker saves a family of five from certain death. gregg: plus, carrie underwood rocking the crowd at last night's american music awards despite losing out on the coveted title of entertainer of the year to luke bryan. bryan becoming the first male winner of that fan-voted award since 2007. ♪ ♪ i automatically go there. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. if you want to save yourself time and avoid a hassle, go to angie's list. at angie's list, you'll find the right person to do the job you need. and you'll find the right person quickly and easily. i'm busy, busy, busy, busy. thank goodness for angie's list.

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gregg: an suv with a family of five inside veers off the road ending up if many a river in northern california, and by chance a nearby kayaker is able to help get the three children and two adults out of the vehicle and bring them safely to shore. the male driver's head was partially underwater, he was

rescued in the nick of time. all passengers expected to be okay, the kayaker said he was in the exact spot the suv landed just a moment before. ♪ ♪ martha: we're seeing pictures now on the left-hand side of your screen outside margaret thatcher's home where people have begun to play flowers, lots of press outside her home in this area of london. we're glad to be joined right now by richard haas, the president of the council on foreign relations. richard, welcome. good morning to you. >> good morning. martha: it's, you know, you look back on the life of margaret thatcher and the battles that she fought and the leadership that she was able to imbue, you know, what do you think about sort of the legacy that is hers? >> well, it'll be an enormous legacy on one side in terms of domestic politics and economics, standing for the revival, if you

will, of the private sector, the limit of trade unions, the limit of government spending, all of that not simply for britain, but around the world. in some ways she helped establish some of the same foundations that ronald reagan built his policy on in this country and then abroad, whether it was dealing with the falklands crisis or dealing nearly a decade later with the iraqi invasion of kuwait. again, she stood really clearly for certain principles, and above all that force should not be used to settle disputes. so whether at home or abroad, i actually think she was an important, major figure by any yardstick. gregg: richard, it's gregg jarrett, beyond transforming great britain really from a socialist society to more free market, did she also inspire conservatives not only in europe, but worldwide? >> oh, absolutely. of conservativism,e espoused a

of individual freedom and of wealth creation. and the fact that britain went from where it was in the '70s, i lived there at the time, and it really was a depressing country in so many ways, impoverished. and the transformation of britain in the '80s helped make the case in the united states and really around the world that markets would be the primary engine of wealth creation which would benefit not simply the wealthy, but really would spread around the society. so thatcherrism, if you will, was a really big, powerful idea. martha: richard, on a personal level, she was a grocer's daughter, she studied chemistry, she was raised in a coldwater flat in london, very modest background. how did that help her sort of take on the unions? she was not an elitist, someone who went to all the finest schools in london as a child. she spoke to to them very much on their level. >> well, absolutely. and she could, she didn't have

any of that kind of facility or self-doubt as a result because she had earned her way, and she had fought her way. but it also had another effect, her own personal story. when i was at government, i was at best a mid-level white house official, she was the prime minister. she would take her time, and she would talk to you one-on-one. the fact that she was several levels, to say the least, above me didn't seem to matter much. she would just argue things out on the merits. and i would simply say it's the rare politician or political leader who's willing just to deal with the issues straight and not really care much what your title is or what your position is. and, again, i think that reflected who she was. she didn't care much about what class she came from in britain, she just cared about the quality of what it was you did and said. gregg: she had to deal with a number of crises, the most jarring of which occurred when there was an attempt on her life, a bomb allegedly planted by the irish republican army that was meant to take her life. it failed. nevertheless, she went on, insisted the conference had to continue, and she did reach out

later on. >> absolutely. i remember that, because the ira at the time basically said she had been lucky, but they only had -- they, the ira -- only had to be lucky once. but she persevered, and again, she in some ways set the stage for what tony blair was later able to accomplish as prime minister dealing with northern ireland, george mitchell from this country and so forth. because it made it in some ways a bipartisan pursuit in britain, that no matter what the government was, it could try to broker peace in northern ireland. and today it's an enduring accomplishment that the british government, the u.s. government and the irish government should all have reason to be proud of. martha: lots of lessons in her life. thank you so much, richard. good to see you this morning. >> thank you. gregg: the fight for stricter gun control, president obama heading to connecticut today to talk about it. but is the white house now downplaying expectations what can really get done? we'll be right back. this is $100,000.

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martha: well, the white house now concedes that president obama knew some of his gun control proposals might be rejected. president obama heads to connecticut today for a speech on gun violence. that is, of course, the home of the newtown, connecticut, massacre where there is still so much raw emotion on this. one of his senior advisers says that the president hasn't stopped fighting for new gun laws. listen to this. >> well, let's be very clear, the president has pushed very hard. he was in denver last week, he's headed to connecticut on monday, too, to make the case. he has martialed the american people to his side.

like you cite, 90% of americans support expanded background checks. that is a, you know, if you can't get 90% of americans to agree on the weather, so he has made tremendous progress. is question here is, is congress and the republican congress in particular going to listen to the american people and do the right thing? martha: joined now by rich lowry and kirsten powers, both are fox news contributors. welcome, guys, good to have you here this morning. kirsten, is that concession that he will not get what he wanted, he was so passionate on this topic right after newtown and, of course, in the wake of aurora and other places, how badly would this hurt the president? >> look, i -- i think he meant what he said, and he's been sincere in wanting it, and if he could somehow be able to get everything that he wanted and snap his fingers and there's an assault weapons ban, he would do it. unfortunately, he can't force congress to do things that they don't want to do. there are -- it's not just republicans, there's also some democrats who, you know, oppose some of these measures, and i

think the president's making his case, he's doing the most he can do, and i think americans understand that. i don't think that he's going to be blamed for the fact that congress won't pass something. i think congress, if anyone's going to get blamed, it's going to be congress. martha: yeah. rich, what do you think? >> well, i agree. he's completely sincere on this, and he's been doing the most he can, but he's failed to move the needle, and public opinion's actually been sliding the other way on gun control. he's failed to sway red state democrats in the senate who i think should have been his top target politically. so we're a long way away from the time when he was talking about banning certain categories of guns and banning certain magazines. now we're down to a background check that, if it's going to get through congress, will be extremely watered down. it'll be, basically, a cosmetic matter. he'll be able to sign it and claim he got something, but it'll have nothing to do with stopping the next one of these atrocities. and by the way, the background check, adam lanza's mother in any circumstance is going to

pass any background check. so the whole background check has nothing to do with newtown or most of these shootings, because most of these disturbed young men have not committed any crimes prior to their massacres and haven't been adjudicated in any way. martha: kirsten, that's one of the most frustrating things, i think, they feel like this is a three-legged stool here, and the arms part of it, the guns part of it is just one. what about mental health, and why haven't we heard more about a constructive plan to prevent somebody like adam lanza from being able to do the damage he did? >> i think there needs to be a lot of attention paid to mental health not just because of the gun issue. i think it's a huge issue in this country generally, so there's much more to be done on that. but at the end of the day, if a mentally ill person can't get their hands on -- set the gun aside. if they can't get their hands on the ammunition where they can shoot down, you know, mow down people in a matter of minutes, it would make a difference. the problem is how do you do that? the horse has already kind of

left the barn, because we have 300 million legally-owned weapons, legally-owned ammunition, and this is something that actually needed to be dealt with a while ago. but you have a lot of people in this country who believe you have a constitutional right to have a magazine or a clip that has, you know, enough -- like i said, enough bullets to kill somebody and, you know, kill 20 people in a minute. martha: thank you very much. we're short on time because of the breaking news, of course, of margaret thatcher. we will see you next time. >> thanks very much. >> thank you. gregg: remembering england's iron lady. flags at half staff at buckingham palace, and leaders all over the world with their memories of margaret thatcher. [ male announcer ] red lobster is hitting the streets

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